Italy: Love It, or Leave it

A documentary in which Luca Ragazzi and Gustav Hofer research the origins of sexism in the west and in Italy, the land of Berlusconi, Mussolini and Casanova, a nation with 887 words to say "penis".

Actor turned director Luigi Lo Cascio stars as the talented architect and fervent environmentalist Michele who has moved from Palermo to his ideal city, Siena. He holds a successful job and is living out a dream experiment of functioning one year without running water or electricity. Not surprisingly, he also displays a passionate opposition to cars and driving. One evening, after being forced to borrow his boss’ car in order to collect a colleague for a work function, Michele’s life takes an unexpected turn. In the blinding rain Michele hits something he cannot identify. After leaving a note on a parked car he believes he damaged, he continues down the road only to come across a dead body a few miles down which he later discovers belongs to one of Siena’s most important luminaries. Michele immediately calls the police, but in doing so, he unwittingly brings intense suspicion on himself as his uncertainty raises more questions than he has answers for.

Luca and Gustav, two men in their 30s, have been a stable couple for eight years. Nothing to get worked up about in a western European country, you would think – and you’d be wrong. Even in Euroland there are places where the acknowledgment of the basic civil rights of same-sex couples is a hot issue. Suddenly, Gustav’s and Luca’s quiet private life has been turned upside down. When the Italian center-left coalition initiates legislation about same-sex partnerships in Italy, a national debate is triggered instantly. In a matter of days it turns into the hottest political and cultural issue on the national agenda while intolerant homophobic attacks increase dramatically.

Award-winning filmmakers Luca Ragazzi and Gustav Hofer make a bold and cheeky return to Hot Docs with another timely and autobiographical look at contemporary Italian society. Following their festival and theatrical hit films Suddenly Last Winter (about the travails of a modern gay couple in Italy) and Italy: Love It, or Leave It (about the challenges of living and working under the controversial Silvio Berlusconi) their latest doc takes a decidedly, well, left turn. After the Second World War, Italy was home to the largest Communist (later socialist) party in the West. The party's efforts to enhance social and economic conditions for all Italians earned them remarkable electoral success and influence. Seeking a more equal and progressive Italy, the filmmakers set out to discover why their country has now become so persistently conservative, and what happened to its once proud and vital left-wing sensibilities.